It's unfortunate that the picture of an irrigation system shown with the August 4 article "Could city voters dictate farm water use?" illustrates one of the most wasteful ways of irrigating that exists. Spraying a fine mist into a sunny day means that roughly half the water evaporates before it hits the ground. It is sort of like the misters in a freestall barn.
If farmers want to forestall restrictions on their water use, they need to come up with methods that are going to economize the use of water the same way that urbanites are doing. That means that agriculture has to become part of the solution, not part of the problem. Agriculture needs to sit down and talk with people about agriculture's own needs for water and how they can economize on water use. It is the same principle as opening up your farm for visits so that urbanites get a better understanding of how dairy operates.
Daniel Miller, Texas
